Civil War commemoration ‘a huge test of national maturity’

The chair of the Advisory Board on Commemorations, Maurice Manning, has said the 2022 commemoration of the Civil War will be “a huge test of our national maturity and our capacity to face up to a difficult past”.

At the Parnell Summer School in Rathdrum, Co Wicklow, he said: “The big test is coming up now, and that is when we come to look at the events after 1916, especially the way we handled the Civil War.

“The Civil War soured Irish life for over half a century. It divided families, it divided communities. Now, it’s only a memory — but it’s capable of exciting very bad feelings again if it isn’t handled properly.